By Simon Jessop

LONDON (Reuters). Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:) Inc and H&M Group are among backers of a $250 million fund aiming to speed up efforts to cut carbon emissions in the fashion industry’s supply chain, non-profit group Apparel Impact Institute said on Wednesday.

Fashion Climate Fund is a platform that brings together fashion brands and industry leaders. It hopes to generate $2 billion additional funding after effective solutions have been identified and scaled-up.

Other early backers include the H&M Foundation and the Schmidt Family Foundation. The fund hopes to raise $10,000,000 from all of these sources, and more will be revealed in the months ahead.

The urgency of addressing climate problems has never been greater. Early-stage innovations and new solutions play a critical role, but the impact does not happen before they can be scaled, and the industry starts adopting and implementing them,” said the H&M Foundation’s Christiane Dolva.

The Fashion Climate Fund will fund new programs and solutions, with a structured pipeline to get from pilot to scale. This fund is believed to be a great tool for overcoming the difficulties of getting industry solutions, and thus accelerate progress in climate action.

Many of the top companies in the world have made commitments to reduce their emissions and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. However, many barriers still remain according to the Apparel Impact Institute.

It recently teamed up with the World Resources Institute to find that 96% of fashion’s greenhouse gas emissions are from factories and third-party farms.

Fund will be used to finance diverse initiatives such as expanding renewable energy use, development next-generation material, abandoning coal production, and increasing energy efficiency.

This initiative hopes to inspire other sector participants by leveraging philanthropic capital and forming partnerships with retailers in order to fund successful early stage initiatives.